January 04, 2007

FBI Releases Rehnquist FOIA Files

Pursuant to FOIA requests from a number of individuals and news organizations, the FBI has released its files on late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

While I haven't read the files, it appears the FBI overwithheld material it believes is exempt under the FOIA. Additionally, the FBI claims it can find one section of Rehnquist's file. The issue of how a file of such an important American becomes lost should be a major point of concern for the FBI. Hopefully, at least one of the requesters will file an administrative appeal of the FBI's action, and if necessary, a lawsuit, so that more of this historically important material is released to the public.

Update: The Washington Post has more on this. A couple of comments on the Post story. 1. I am quite interested in the classified information in this file--what in the world could be classified in a background investigation--my guess is that the FBI interviewed a foreign official in the background check and they are trying to claim it is national security information. 2. The FBI's Press Office statement sounds like Casey Stengel is now in charge of the FBI Press Office. (Non-baseball fans now need to do some googling to understand my comment!)